Cornelia
|First = |Last = Dawn of the Planet of the Apes }} Cornelia is a chimpanzee and the wife and queen of Caesar. She was a fellow inmate of Rocket, Maurice and Buck at the San Bruno Primate Shelter. She meets Caesar during his stay at the shelter and forms a romantic bond with him. After Caesar's rise of power, she becomes his wife and bears him two sons, an heir, River and an infant son. After the rediscovery of humans, Cornelia becomes the ape counterpart of Ellie. History Early Life Cornelia was born in the wild before being captured and taken to the San Bruno Ape Shelter. Rise of the Planet of the Apes Cornelia was one of the apes being held at the San Bruno Primate Shelter awaiting to be used as a test subject at Gen-Sys Laboratories. When Dodge Landon gave his friends a tour of the facility, one of his female friends commented that Cornelia was cute and mistook her as male. Dodge corrected her saying she was female and that her name was Cornelia. Later, Cornelia is tranquilized and is shipped to Gen-Sys only to be freed later when Caesar and the other apes raid the place while freeing the other captured apes. It is unknown if she took part in the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge. It could be possible that she was in the forest when Caesar said his final farewell to Will. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm Cornelia makes her first proper introduction in the novel, Firestorm in which she is first seen treating the injured apes after the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge and wasn't injured in the fight. Upon seeing Caesar, she goes to him lowering her head and extending her hand somewhat reluctantly. Caesar orders her to follow Maurice to safety. Agitated and defiant, she tells him that when the injured apes move they hurt more and that they require rest. Caesar shakes his head, telling her that if they stay put they've be slaughtered. Cornelia attempts to stand her ground but Caesar threatens her prompting her to stand down to help the injured to their feet. More to Come... Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 10 years after Caesar's rebellion against humanity, Cornelia is now Caesar's wife and Queen and the mother of his two children - a teenage son named River and an infant baby. During the early events of Dawn, she gives birth to her and Caesar's youngest son with her husband by her side. More to come… Personality When she was younger, Cornelia was known to be stubborn and defiant especially when it came to Caesar giving her orders. Though, this did not stop her from being kind to others and helping out whenever she could and attempting to stand up to her husband. Others, such as Maurice valued her input and knowledge of the wild and upon learning that the forest was very different to that of the jungle in which she grew up in. Cornelia has a child-like quality to her that is greatly respected. She is kind and is willing to help those who need it, whether it be ape or human. Her kind and loving personality makes her the ideal mother to her two young sons, River and her newborn son and is an equally loving and supportive wife and queen to Caesar. Seeing what her husband must endure on a daily basis as the leader of the colony, Cornelia serves as a calming presense to keep him grounded. When Caesar rescues Malcolm, his family and Carver from an explosion that would have surely killed them, Caesar introduces them to his family. Cornelia, seeing that Caesar has become friendly with the humans, watches calmly as her curious infant son climbs out of her arms and over to Ellie and Alexander, Malcolm's wife and son, to investigate the newcomers more closely. This indicates that she has enough trust to allow her new friends to touch her baby. More to come… Abilities *'Advanced Intelligence:' Cornelia unknowingly inhaled the ALZ-113 when Caesar, in the dead of night, exposed it to the other apes while many of them were imprisoned in San Bruno. She has green irises, a trait that is later passed on to her and Caesar's sons, River and their Infant son. it is unknown how much her advanced intelligence and IQ has increased. She does appear to be a quick learner as seen in the sneak peek of the Dawn prequel novel, Firestorm. *'Sign Language:' Like her fellow primates, Cornelia can use Sign Language as a way of communicating. She was one of the few apes after the Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge to display this ability after having watched Caesar, Maurice and Rocket communicate with it. *'Healer/Medic: '''According to the Dawn prequel novel, Firestorm, Cornelia appears to be a gifted healer as Caesar finds her tending to the wounds of many of the apes who were injured during the fight on the Golden Gate Bridge. Relationships Caesar Caesar is Cornelia's husband and king. The pair meet at the San Bruno Ape Shelter and form a romantic bond. Cornelia's relationship with Caesar didn't exactly have a smooth beginning. After the Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge, Cornelia tends to the injured apes. Upon Caesar finding her, he is relieved that she is uninjured. They get into an argument when Caesar tells her that they need to get moving before the hunters find them. Cornelia tells him that the injured are too weak to move and require rest and attempts to stand her ground on the issue. Caesar threatens her and she is forced to stand down and goes to help the injured to their feet. When the apes become desperate for food, Caesar, not knowing about Cornelia's past is told by her that she was born in the wild and that the food in the forest is very different to that in the wild. ''More to Come... As the years go on, now Queen of the Ape Colony and Caesar's wife, Cornelia is greatly admired for her child-like qualities and acts as a calming presense towards Caesar as he struggles to run the ape colony and the main reason he is still grounded. More to come... Maurice Maurice is Cornelia's inmate. Cornelia's first known interaction with Maurice comes in the prequel novel Firestorm. Cornelia having knowledge of how different the food in the forest is to that in the jungle, Maurice takes Cornelia's comments in stride much to annoyance of Caesar. Maurice sees just how compatible the pair are and just how much the pair are alike. When Maurice tries to bring Cornelia's comments up with Caesar later only for him to dismiss them. More to come... River River is Cornelia's teenage son. As his mother, Cornelia loves her son dearly and sees just how far he pushes his father's buttons. More to Come... Infant Other then River, Cornelia has a young baby, a second son, born just before the rediscovery of humans. Despite being protective of her baby, Cornelia doesn 't heistate to allow him to be curious about their new human friends as she watches calmly as he wanders over to Ellie and Alexander wanting to play. More to Come... Ellie Ellie is Cornelia's human counterpart. When Caesar rescues Ellie, her family and Carver from an explosion, Cornelia meets the humans for the first time. Holding her young son, Cornelia doesn't hold back when the curious infant climbs out of her arms and over to Ellie indicating that Cornelia trusts Ellie enough to make sure her baby doesn't come to any harm. It is currently unknown if the two will interact directly. More to Come... Notes * Cornelia was named in tribute to Cornelius, played by Roddy McDowall and David Watson and one of the most recognisable chimp characters from the original films, himself named after Cornélius from the 1963 source novel, La Planète des singes. Given her romantic connection with Caesar in early drafts of the script (and omitted scenes), her name may also be a reference to Cornelia Cinna minor, the first wife of Roman general and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar. * Cornelia has only a brief appearance on screen, but trailers released prior to the movie showed further scenes in the Gen-Sys Laboratories with Caesar which were omitted from the finished film. The motion-capture for the role was performed by professional dancer Devyn Dalton, suggesting that the character also featured in action sequences which were similarly edited out. *An earlier version of the script outlined that Caesar spent time in Cornelia's cage after learning how to free himself. Later, Will goes to the primate facility after Caesar has taken over and, believing Caesar to have murdered Robert Franklin, decides he has to kill Caesar to prevent further bloodshed. However, Cornelia eats the poisoned cookie Will offered to Caesar and dies before she can reach the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving Caesar both heart-broken and angry when he realizes the cause of her death. *She is a similar character to Lisa from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. *It is evident that Cornelia was the second of two female apes mentioned and seen in Rise. The first being Bright Eyes, the biological mother of her husband, Caesar. * Her firstborn son, River seems to have inherited some of her appearance. Trivia *Several entertainment news sites have said that Cornelia will be the same character seen briefly in Rise. *Though it is unknown as to what kind of role Cornelia will play in ''Dawn, ''it can be assumed she will play the role of the supportive wife and mother and play a role in Caesar's council. She could also rule the colony in Caesar's absence and play the role of mediator between her husband and son if their relationship is tense. *Judy Greer confirmed in an interview that she will be playing Caesar's wife. *In a recent interview, Judy Greer said that when she was shown concept art of the character she knew she was looking at a lady and that Cornelia appeared to be regal and feminine, hinting at Cornelia's role as Caesar's Queen. *In the final version of ''Rise, ''Cornelia and Caesar have no direct contact or interaction. There is a scene however when Caesar is talking with Maurice where Cornelia holds up the plastic bottle that she is playing with, the shot then cuts to Caesar and he smiles at her. *It is currently unknown just how much interaction Cornelia will have with her children as Nick Thurston mentioned on his Facebook page that he met Judy Greer during the later stages of filming. Thurston later mentioned that he did share scenes with Judy confirming possible interactions between mother and son. *Because Caesar will be the ape counterpart for human leader Malcolm and River the ape counterpart for Malcolm's son, it is possible that Cornelia will be the ape counterpart for Malcolm's partner. *In a recent interview with Crave Online, Judy revealed that she wouldn't be involved in any action sequences but she did reveal that Cornelia has a calming effect on Caesar and pretty much keeps him grounded. *Cornelia made an appearance in the footage that was shown at CinemaCon. She was wearing a crown made of flowers. In an interview at the same event, Andy Serkis confirmed that the ape was in fact Cornelia and that the scene was the celebration involving the recent birth of Caesar and Cornelia's second son. Whether the flower crown was in just part of the scene or a reference to Cornelia's status as Queen is yet to be seen. *Cornelia made another appearance in the 20 minutes of footage shown to audiences. She was in the scene in which Caesar has just rescued Malcolm, Ellie, Alexander and Carver from an explosion. She is holding her and Caesar's infant son who climbs out her arms and over to Ellie. *In an interview with Hitfix at WonderCon, Andy Serkis refers to Cornelia as the love of Caesar's life. *According to Terry Notary in the film's first featurette, Cornelia has a very child-like quality. *Cornelia makes a momentary cameo in the first full trailer for Dawn. Only her hand is shown during the brief clip of her having just given birth to her and Caesar's youngest son. *Cornelia seems to have been redesigned for Dawn. She has a longer nose then she did in Rise and her eyes are smaller then in Rise. Image Gallery wetaCornelia.jpg|Devyn Dalton as Cornelia, with Rupert Wyatt. devyncornelia.jpg|Devyn Dalton as Cornelia. Corneliacage1.jpg|Cornelia in her cage at the Shelter. Corneliacage2.jpg|Cornelia's empty cage. CaesarCornelia.jpg|Cornelia in a deleted scene with her future husband Caesar. Corneilia with Water.jpg|Cornelia plays with Water. Cornelia- pics.jpg|Cornelia (Rise appearance). Caesar, Cornelia, River & Infant.png|Cornelia, with her husband and two sons. Caesar holds Cornelia's hand as she gives birth.jpg|Cornelia holds Caesar's hand as she gives birth. ASC_Apes2_Cornelia_FacePaint_v6_12_21_12_.jpg|Cornelia (Dawn Appearance). Category:Chimpanzees Category:Female Characters Category:Apes Category:Heroes Category:CE Category:Evolved Apes Category:CE Characters Category:Ape Rebellion (CE) Category:Caesar's Family (CE) Category:Royal Ape Family Category:Caesar's Ape Army Category:Caesar's Ape Colony Category:Caesar's Council of Apes Category:Living Characters